Donatist Essay Topics & Paper Examples

The Donatist Controversy or Donatism was a significant movement that arose in the early part of the 4th century and according to the renowned church historian Justo Gonzales it started in North Africa, a movement claiming that: …consecrations performed by bishops who had faltered in time of persecution were invalid, and therefore rejecting the authority of Caecilian, the bishop of Carthage at the time, who had allegedly been consecrated by one who had lapsed. This led to a schism that eventually was named after Donatus, one of its leaders (p. 48). It is obvious that something had changed dramatically. In order for the Church to be embroiled in such a high level of controversy never before seen since the time…